The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

Last week I shared that tracking the 1777 journey of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne from Saratoga to Cambridge was a challenge.  Several primary sources document he stayed in Albany at Major-General Philip Schuyler's home until October 27th, and arrived in Cambridge on November 7th.  Less clear was where he stopped in between, though multiple locations lay claim to the statement "Burgoyne slept here" - some relatively easy to challenge, others not so much so. Travelers during the Revolutionary War going from Albany to Boston (or Boston to Albany) generally followed one of two major routes that correspond to the routes taken by the British and German columns.  A traveler leaving Albany could head south towards Kinderhook, then east through Great Barrington to Springfield, and on to Boston (or Cambridge for our purposes) along the Western Post Road.  Alternatively, a traveler could head east from Albany to Pittsfield or Williamstown, then through the Berkshires to c...

  "The famous Gen. Burgoyne and his army..." proclaimed the  Massachusetts Spy on October 30, 1777, "... are expected in town tomorrow."   The citizens of Worcester, home to the pro-patriot newspaper since April of 1775, would wait two additional days for the first elements of the Convention Army to arrive in their town, and the famous General Burgoyne seems to have come and gone without much notice.  I found tracking his journey to be a challenge as well. Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne (seen here as a younger man in the painting  John Burgoyne , in the National Portrait Gallery in London, NPG 4158) remains a well-known figure of the American Revolution.  Unfortunately, many of the stories told about him appear suspect, while others remain rarely told or untold - especially the details of his journey from Saratoga to Boston.   Burgoyne dedicated the publication of his defense of his failed campaign before Parliament,  A State of the ...